Google TV Coming to Make Your TV a Larger Computer

Google, Intel and Sony are working on Google TV, a platform and service that will funnel search, video, Twitter and other Web applications through set-top boxes and onto televisions. Google TV will leverage a version of the Google Chrome Web browser, letting users search through the Web and video content just as if they were accessing the Web from their desktops and mobile phones. Google applications would be paired with Google's stock-in-trade digital ads. Twitter, Facebook and associated gaming applications would be fair game for this service.

Google, Intel and Sony are working on Google TV, a
platform and service that will funnel search, video, Twitter and other Web applications
through set-top boxes and onto televisions, according to The
New York Times.
The report comes days after eWEEK reported that Google was testing a TV service to run TV, Web video from
YouTube and other applications from a set-top box based on Google's Android
operating system.

Google has made a prototype set-top box to test the
service, powered by Intel's Atom processors and tested on televisions made by
Sony, the Times said, noting that Intel and Sony are hiring programmers who
have experience writing software for Android.

eWEEK reported the service, allegedly being tested on the
Dish Network, would be accessed through a TV remote and a keyboard. The Times
said Logitech was creating devices such as a remote with a small keyboard.
Logitech
is also looking to hire an "embedded software engineer" with
experience building "audio and video products based on the Android
platform." None of the companies involved would comment on the Times'
report.
Google TV will leverage a version of the Google Chrome
Web browser, letting users search through the Web and video content just as if
they were accessing the Web from their desktops and mobile phones.
Google
applications would be paired with Google's stock-in-trade digital ads. Twitter,
Facebook and associated gaming applications -- everything that makes the Web on
a desktop or mobile phone enjoyable -- would be fair game for Google TV.
Fueling the intrigue, the Times also said Google would
adopt the open-source Android approach to third-party application development,
allowing programmers to build applications for Google TV. This has tremendous
potential for programmers who want to build applications for a larger screen.
More than 30,000 applications have been built on Android
in just a few years. There's every reason to believe this same approach would
open new opportunities for application developers looking to write software
for home-based consumer electronics.
The Google TV platform should come as no surprise.
Software makers such as Microsoft and Apple have been trying to funnel the Web
through users' home entertainment systems for several years to little success.
Upstarts
such as Boxee and Roku have moved the needle forward. Technology and platforms
have progressed -- and bandwidth had increased -- to make this possible.
The Federal
Communications current
National Broadband Plan, which calls to connect 100 million households to
affordable 100-megabits-per-second service, looms large for Web-based TV.
Google TV already exists to a degree. At the Consumer
Electronics Show in January,
MIPS Technologies, which builds chips and architectures for home entertainment devices,
showed
off
an Android-based set-top box.
This platform included video-on-demand, ThinkFree Office
viewer software, a Web browser, remote control/keyboard interface and 1080p
video quality.
That sounds a lot like what Google is shooting for, though
Google would likely port its existing desktop and mobile phone apps and
services to Google TV. Read more on TechMeme about this topic here.